Phonological and Spatial Processing Abilities in Language- and Reading-Impaired Children

1988 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan G. Kamhi ◽  
Hugh W. Catts ◽  
Daria Mauer ◽  
Kenn Apel ◽  
Betholyn F. Gentry
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Paper Folding ◽  
Syllable Segmentation ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Better Than

In the present study, we further examined (see Kamhi & Catts, 1986) the phonological processing abilities of language-impaired (LI) and reading-impaired (RI) children. We also evaluated these children's ability to process spatial information. Subjects were 10 LI, 10 RI, and 10 normal children between the ages of 6:8 and 8:10 years. Each subject was administered eight tasks: four word repetition tasks (monosyllabic, monosyllabic presented in noise, three-item, and multisyllabic), rapid naming, syllable segmentation, paper folding, and form completion. The normal children performed significantly better than both the LI and RI children on all but two tasks: syllable segmentation and repeating words presented in noise. The LI and RI children performed comparably on every task with the exception of the multisyllabic word repetition task. These findings were consistent with those from our previous study (Kamhi & Catts, 1986). The similarities and differences between LI and RI children are discussed.

Toward an Understanding of Developmental Language and Reading Disorders

1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan G. Kamhi ◽  
Hugh W. Catts
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Phonological Information ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
History Of ◽  
Reading Impairments ◽  
Impaired Children

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the ability of language-impaired and reading-impaired children to process (i.e., encode and retrieve) phonological information. Four measures of phonological awareness and several measures of word and sentence repetition abilities were used to evaluate phonological processing skills. Two additional measures assessed children's awareness of lexical and morphological information. Subjects were 12 language-impaired (LI), 12 reading-impaired (RI), and 12 normal children between the ages of 6 and 8 years. The findings supported previous claims that children with reading impairments have difficulty processing phonological information. To our surprise, however, the LI children performed significantly worse than the RI children on only three measures, all involving word and sentence repetition. These findings raise questions about the distinctiveness of school-age children with a history of language impairment and poor readers with no history of language impairment.

Examination of phonological working memory in specifically language-impaired children

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Montgomery
Keyword(s):  
Nonsense Word ◽  
Phonological Encoding ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Phonological Similarity Effect ◽  
Word Discrimination ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Repetition Task

AbstractThe present study examined the phonological memory capacity, rate of articulation, phonological-encoding, and perceptual-processing abilities of 13 well-defined, specifically language-impaired (SLI) children and 13 younger, language-matched normal (NL) children. The results of a nonsense word repetition task showed that SLI children repeated significantly fewer multisyllabic nonsense words than their NL peers. However, SLI and NL children were found to have comparable articulation rates, even when producing the longest nonsense word stimuli. Both SLI and NL children showed sensitivity to the phonological similarity effect, indicating that SLI children had intact phonological-encoding abilities. The results of a nonsense word discrimination task revealed that SLI children had greater difficulty perceptually processing 4-syllable nonsense words. Taken together, these findings were interpreted to be consistent with Gathercole and Baddeley's (1990) claim that SLI children have reduced phonological storage capacity. However, the capacity deficit account may require revision to include the possibility that the phonological storage deficit of some SLI children may have a perceptual basis (i.e., difficulty with processes related to item identification).

scholarly journals The comprehension of deictic terms in normal and language impaired children

1981 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Mentis
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Developmental Sequence ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Semantic Complexity ◽  
Impaired Group ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Impaired Children

This study examined the comprehension of four pairs of deictic terms in a group of language impaired children and compared their interpretation of these terms with those of non-language impaired children of the same age range. Each group was comprised of ten subjects within the age range of 9,6 to 10,6 years. Two tasks were administered, one to assess the comprehension of the terms here, there, this, and that and the other to assess the comprehension of the terms, come, go, bring and take. The results showed that while the non-language impaired subjects comprehended the full deictic contrast between the pairs of terms tested, the language impaired group did not. A qualitative analysis of the data revealed that the language impaired subjects appeared to follow the same developmental sequence as normal children in their acquisition of these terms and responded by using the same strategies that younger non-language impaired children use at equivalent stages of development. Furthermore, the language impaired subjects appeared to comprehend the deictic terms in a predictable order based on their relative semantic complexity.

scholarly journals Aspects of cohesion, tense and pronoun usage in the discourse of the older language-impaired child

1978 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Berger ◽  
Aletta Sinoff
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Impaired Child ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Situational Context ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Diagnosis And Therapy ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Impaired Children

Aspects of the discourse of 5 language-impaired children and 5 children with no language impairment, aged approximately 9 years, were compared. A film and a story sequence were utilised to elicit narratives on which, measures of cohesion, tense and pronouns were appraised. Measures of cohesion refer  to the ability to indicate appropriately the relations of meaning with regard to situational context. Measures of tense include aspects of tense range and tense continuity. Measures of  pronouns refer  to the anaphoric use of  pronouns with non-ambiguous referents.  The group of language-impaired children was found  to be significantly poorer on measures of  cohesion and pronominal usage than the normal children, whereas a significant difference between the two groups was not revealed on measures of tense. Possible factors  accounting for  these findings  were discussed and implications for the diagnosis and therapy of the older language-impaired child were considered.

Specific-Language-Impaired Children’s Quick Incidental Learning of Words

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 1040-1048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mabel L. Rice ◽  
JoAnn Buhr ◽  
Janna B. Oetting
Keyword(s):  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Word Comprehension ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Comparison Groups ◽  
Control Version ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Better Than

It was hypothesized that the initial word comprehension of specific-language-impaired children would be enhanced by the insertion of a short pause just before a sentence-final novel word. Three groups of children served as subjects: twenty 5-year-old, specific-languageimpaired (SLI) children, and two comparison groups of normally developing children, 20 matched for mean length of utterance (MLU) and 32 matched for chronological age (CA). The children were randomly assigned to two conditions for viewing video programs. The programs were animated stories that featured five novel object words and five novel attribute words, presented in a voice-over narration. The experimental version introduced a pause before the targeted words; the control version was identical except for normal prosody instead of a pause. Counter to the predictions, there was no effect for condition. Insertion of a pause did not improve the SLI children’s initial comprehension of novel words. There were group main effects, with the CA matches better than either of the other two groups and no differences between the SLI children and the MLU-matched children.

Conversational Responsiveness and Assertiveness in Language-Impaired Children

1987 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Kay Rosinski-McClendon ◽  
Marilyn Newhoff
Keyword(s):  
Language Ability ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Impaired Children

It has been suggested that language-disordered children may be less conversationally responsive and/or assertive than their normal matched counterparts. This investigation compared these abilities in 10 language-impaired children ranging in age from 4:1 to 5:9, and 10 normal children matched for language ability (2:8 to 4:2). Comparisons were based on subjects' responses to systematic probes that occurred within examiner-child dialogues. Total scores were derived from: (a) the number of questions answered, (b) the number of attempts to continue a topic following a no-response, and (c) the number of attempts to maintain the original topic after the examiner changed the topic. Results indicated that although language-impaired children responded to questions significantly less often than did their normal peers, they were equally assertive both in continuing a topic after no comment by the examiner and in maintaining the topic following a topical change.

Perceptual constancy for phonemic categories: a developmental study with normal and language impaired children

1980 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Tallal ◽  
Rachel E. Stark ◽  
Clayton Kallman ◽  
David Mellits
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Acoustic Signal ◽  
Conditioned Response ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Developmental Study ◽  
Perceptual Constancy ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Impaired Children

ABSTRACTSix synthesized consonant-vowel syllables, three containing the phoneme /b/ in different vowel contexts and three the phoneme /d/, were presented randomly to developmental dysphasics and normal children. The ability to recognize that these six acoustically different stimuli shared two common phonemic categories (perceptual constancy) was investigated using nonverbal operantly conditioned response techniques. Results showed that although several children in both groups had difficulty with the task, the dysphasic group's performance was significantly poorer than the controls. Whereas the normal children improved significantly with age, the dysphasics did not. The results of this study suggest that speech perception, rather than being fully developed in infancy, changes throughout language development. By using procedures which have proven suitable for testing infants, with young children at various stages of language development, more might be learned about how the acoustic signal is encoded into speech and language and how this encoding changes throughout development or is disturbed in language disorders.

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